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I will say though, I was leaning more towards "Machinist" than "Fletcher". I kind of pictured a ranged blacksmith as an individual who likes building big ass crossbows, muskets, or even siege engines and then making those easier and more efficient to use. It's a little ridiculous, but I like picturing it in my head as a dwarf who starts by adding a hair trigger and a reloading mechanism to his heavy crossbow, and by 20th level is driving around in an adamantine steam powered ballista that uses the force of its own shots to auto load the next bolt.Sweet!Very likely, yes. We've only kind of just started on the archetypes since they were stretch goal material we weren't sure we'd be using originally, so most archetypes are in the planning or early sketch phase right now, but a more ranged focused Blacksmith archetype is certainly something I've been mulling over.I'm liking em :3
Speaking and sniping and range, will there be specialized archetypes for for the Blacksmith, say like Fletcher for archery based stuff?
Yes to all of this.
I do want to give the blaksmith a try, not sure where I want to go with it, but it's right up my alley as a support based martial tough guy. If we get the cross sphere archetype book I'm hoping to see a blacksmith with some destruction (fire) sphere abilities.
No, that's definitely cool too :3
I was just using "Fletcher" as an example of an alternate/specialized Blacksmith.
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Yes to all of this.
I do want to give the blaksmith a try, not sure where I want to go with it, but it's right up my alley as a support based martial tough guy. If we get the cross sphere archetype book I'm hoping to see a blacksmith with some destruction (fire) sphere abilities.
Gonna be real, I would be super hard-pressed to give a Blacksmith with the Destruction sphere anything other than Con as his casting stat. A Hephaestian firesmith whose body burns with the heat of a mighty forge and who can rework steel with his bare hands.
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Gonna be real, I would be super hard-pressed to give a Blacksmith with the Destruction sphere anything other than Con as his casting stat. A Hephaestian firesmith whose body burns with the heat of a mighty forge and who can rework steel with his bare hands.
Yes to all of this.
I do want to give the blaksmith a try, not sure where I want to go with it, but it's right up my alley as a support based martial tough guy. If we get the cross sphere archetype book I'm hoping to see a blacksmith with some destruction (fire) sphere abilities.
Azer Style feat chain!
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Questions that I probably just missed the answer to.
How many tension techniques can a striker activate for say a single attack action? Specifically there are two techniques that both provide additional attacks when making an attack action. The one is a free to give 2 more and the other is a swift to give 2 more. If you had the tension could you burn to get 4 additional attacks?
Also, the striker doesn't seem to have many abilities that synchronize with counter punches even though they are given that for free?
I might change the wording, since it's ideally intended to only let you make 2 additional attacks to keep the class 'honest' as it were. As it's written now, yeah, you could burn 8 tension with speed pummeling to make 4 additional attacks.
The striker was originally only made with only unarmed strikes in mind, not the boxing sphere itself, which is why its abilities aren't as keyed into it. There is now a way to gain tension through preparing counter punches, and now that the two are integrated, there's a solid chance we'll be introducing more content that supports it.
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@Drop Dead Studios crew --
I'm probably about to drop a little chunk o' change in y'all's Kickstarter for this within the next 24 hours. I cannot express how much I appreciate the insights you've shared, just in your preview materials and declared design goals.
I'm a huge fan of the Spheres of Power work, and Spheres of Might looks to be at least as exciting.
Keep it up!
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Have not read the second preview yet, but the exchanges on page 6 here after the first review made me think of adding to the Athletics Sphere an anti-caster ability based on unexpected movement. What came to my mind was the ability to ready an action as a swift, as long as the readied action is some kind of movement. Which could help against anything targeting you actually : too fast to be hit kind of thing
Some combo of bluff or stealth with movement could help too : having people misjudge your next move so that they target the wrong square, or ready the wrong action
Have to read all of the previews when I get some time (extra rare resource these days). Even only the comments here are already awesome (especially the designers' answers and insights)
Keep on the inspired designing :-)
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Have not read the second preview yet, but the exchanges on page 6 here after the first review made me think of adding to the Athletics Sphere an anti-caster ability based on unexpected movement. What came to my mind was the ability to ready an action as a swift, as long as the readied action is some kind of movement. Which could help against anything targeting you actually : too fast to be hit kind of thing
I'll pass that along to Stack. He's working on some modifications to the Athletics sphere based on feedback, and I think that idea might appeal to him as a potential talent or ability.
Some combo of bluff or stealth with movement could help too : having people misjudge your next move so that they target the wrong square, or ready the wrong action
We've actually got some Stealth stuff like this in the Scout sphere.
Have to read all of the previews when I get some time (extra rare resource these days). Even only the comments here are already awesome (especially the designers' answers and insights)Keep on the inspired designing :-)
Thanks!
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There it is. Backer #318. Woot!
Now, would Lightning from FFXIII be an Armiger? I can see so many things happening within the Spheres and her basic attack routine with Rapid Assault.
Deadly Shot via crossbow from a range, move closer, follow up with a reach weapon (I'm waiting to see what Sphere may be good there), Sucker Punch into Launching Counter with a free grapple, a dagger to the chest on the way up, and finally a set of bolas to keep him tripped up. Switch up to the Open Hand weapon and if he's prone when he comes back down, Axe Kick him.
Hmm. Perhaps. But I'm seeing that Rapid Assault and thinking, yeah, this is how she plays. Lots of frenetic action. Moving between attacks. Not every attack is even alike in their delivery.
And the Paradigm System just calls out as everyone is an Armiger.
It may have had a weird, convoluted, "why do I even care?" plot, but at least the combat was fun to watch.
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This thread and the other thread should really be merged. They have different info and ideas that I would have easily missed had the other thread not been updated as I was browsing the boards
All this excellent info and ideas should be in a single place for greater ease of use and even greater marketing oomph :-)
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I don't think that should be a stretch goal myself. I think handbook additions should be something they get to when they get the chance and not, "If you don't spend more money now, we won't do it later". I'm not saying that's how it is, but that's what it feels like.
How they have the Patreon set up for the SoP handbooks feels right for this sort off thing. And even if it's a little bit later, when they get there, they get there.
On a similar note, I think the gish book should be a separate thing from this kickstarter. You know there's a call for it already, just make it happen some time after this one is printed.
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Praise:
I am loving the Athletics, Boxing, and Guardian spheres. Sure they may need a tweak here and there, but overall they are looking damn solid.
Criticism:
The Open Hand sphere I feel needs some work. I understand that an underlying design axiom is "enable combos" (and consequently "weapon agnosticism") but it feels as though the Open Hand sphere has been hamstrung in order to try and meet that axiom. As a result it feels a little uninspired.
Suggestion:
This is a big suggestion, but, what if that instead of thinking of it as a sort of "destination sphere" (one in which characters with other weapons pick up special tricks from) - changing it to be primarily a "origin sphere" (one which modifies unarmed attacks in such a way as they can better pick up tricks from other spheres). Essentially, to reverse the polarity of it.
I dunno if that helps, but I've been wracking my mind to think of some kind of suggestion to accompany my criticism. Digging into the combat system this deeply causes some ugly inconsistencies to rear (like "hand of effort" and "natural vs unarmed attacks" and "unarmed size increase") while simultaneously creating opportunities to address some of those inconsistencies. Perhaps with some further development, the Open Hand sphere can be such an opportunity?
Woo-hoo, 2 more Master Generals on board! When do you guys think we'll be hearing more about the details of this tier's rewards? I don't expect anything solid till after the campaign has wrapped up, just curious.
The Guardian Sphere is exactly what my reach cleric ordered. Probably not to the point that I'd dedicate martial focus to it, since "Combat Reflexes" is all I really want, but having the options on the table is awesome.
I cannot wait to see the final version of the Blacksmith class -- it's already maxed out on flavor, and the mechanics are terrific. I'd love to playtest it.
A couple questions:
1) You'll be reaching out to your backers for info and playtest permissions after the Kickstarter is closed, correct?
2) How are the Paizo class conversion rules coming? If that's even being addressed, at this point.
More.
Seriously.
:)
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In the AMA it was asked if you guys were doing anything with poisons, and the response was you might have to make your own poisons because core poisons are terrible.
Please dont do this. Too many other splat books and the like base their poisons power off cores poisons. No matter how many of your own poisons you make, you will never be able to make as many as every other poison ever made.
If we do something with poisons, we have to base them off of core poisons, and core poisons are so terribly imbalanced and priced that building around them would be impossible. We've actually discussed this before in the group, with myself being the most vocal about making new poisons, although really it would be a new mechanic entirely. If someone else in the group wants to try to balance around core poisons, that's on them, but that's not something I see as viable myself.
As the author of the poison primer in my alchemist guide, I already know how best to break poisons, which is why for any enemy that can be put to sleep, using poison conversion and changing drow poison to inhaled, stacking that, and giving it a 50+ save is the best way of using poisons.
I can't think of any poison that's unique enough to be noted, although if there's some poison that you think is more noteworthy than others, please let me know. I'm just not seeing the value of core poisons myself; they're awful and incredibly easily broken by a character with the poison conversion discovery against any breathing enemy (outsiders can be tagged thanks to celestial poisons).
I know I would personally like it if you guys did something with poisons somewhere down the line. Even if it meant making your own system for them. As much as it pains me for the plethora of poisons released by Paizo to go to waste, very few of them see use in actual play on the player side of things even if you base an entire character around them.
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Hmm, not sure how I feel about active combat poisons for players.
As they are now they're practically an NPC option, what with time and cost, so not much use to PCs who defeat NPCs and then move on, whereas PCs that get poisoned have to deal with the effects and resources used to remedy it long after the encounter.
It currently can be a PC option though, you just can't really think of it as a in-combat option. Hit-and-run and sneaking up/sniping/trapping* have their uses.
*poisoned bear traps are my favourite :3
**barbed vest is nice against monsters that bite/swallow you since the damage is automatic.
Like to see what you come up with, just wary is all.
In it's current form? It's true that you can't think of it as a combat option (poison conversion shenanigans not withstanding), but I would hope that any changes to how poisons work would rectify this to some degree. I would also hope that they would put these poisons within a more reasonable price range. Heck, even a Poison Sphere that doesn't use the system of buyable poisons could be cool.
Poisons that apply short term effects that wear off by themselves (maybe a duration of around 1 minute or so?) could be quite useful in combat.
1.Clouded vision like the Oracle curse where you can only see things within 60 feet. Maybe an even shorter distance, like 30 feet, for a more virulent poison
2. Tightening and cramping of muscles in a targeted area to halve their speeds. Legs would usually be targeted for landspeeds but wings and fins could be targeted for other movement mode.
3. Dizziness to reduce a target's CMD versus tripping and bullrushing. Maybe also add a penalty for acrobatics checks to balance for completeness sake?
4. Severe headaches that makes a target lose martial focus or concentration on a spell. A saving throw or concentration check would obviously be needed as a balancing factor.
5. Just about any condition in the game that you can think of.
6. Heck, maybe even introduce poison damage as a new damage type. Enemies who are immune to poison would naturally be immune to this damage. Those with a bonus to poison on saving throws could get a number equal to twice their bonus vs poison as their Resist Poison. For example, an Alchemist with a +4 bonus to saving throws against poison would have Resist Poison 8.
Those are a few off the top of my head. I'm sure the folks working on this could think of far better effects and make allowances for longer lasting, more traditional poisons for the classic "poison the wine to knock someone unconscious" scenario.
Looking it over. First impression: Heck, yeah!!
Will post more informed assessment asap; probably two weeks away.
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I can't wait to play a sage.
I'm a little confused about the wording of this part of the Scoundrel sphere
Dedicate: While your martial focus is dedicated to the scoundrel sphere, you can attempt a dirty trick or steal combat maneuver as an attack action.
An attack action is a standard action but both the Dirty Trick and Steal maneuvers are already standard actions. Is there some benefit to having it classified as an attack action that I'm not aware of?
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I'm a little confused about the wording of this part of the Scoundrel sphere
Dedicate: While your martial focus is dedicated to the scoundrel sphere, you can attempt a dirty trick or steal combat maneuver as an attack action.An attack action is a standard action but both the Dirty Trick and Steal maneuvers are already standard actions. Is there some benefit to having it classified as an attack action that I'm not aware of?
There are a bunch of class features and other talents that trigger off of attack actions.
It allows you to trigger those features with those maneuvers instead.
I'm a little confused about the wording of this part of the Scoundrel sphere
Dedicate: While your martial focus is dedicated to the scoundrel sphere, you can attempt a dirty trick or steal combat maneuver as an attack action.An attack action is a standard action but both the Dirty Trick and Steal maneuvers are already standard actions. Is there some benefit to having it classified as an attack action that I'm not aware of?There are a bunch of class features and other talents that trigger off of attack actions.
It allows you to trigger those features with those maneuvers instead.
Could you give examples? I'm struggling to find any save for the Armiger's Lightning Assault which doesn't come online until level 15.
I believe it means that, like disarm, sunder, and trip, you can replace one of your attacks in a full attack with a dirty trick or steal combat maneuver.
If that's what they meant they should really change it to something like this so it's more clear:
While your martial focus is dedicated to the scoundrel sphere, you can attempt a dirty trick or steal combat maneuver in place of an attack as part of a full attack action
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I'm a little confused about the wording of this part of the Scoundrel sphere
Dedicate: While your martial focus is dedicated to the scoundrel sphere, you can attempt a dirty trick or steal combat maneuver as an attack action.An attack action is a standard action but both the Dirty Trick and Steal maneuvers are already standard actions. Is there some benefit to having it classified as an attack action that I'm not aware of?There are a bunch of class features and other talents that trigger off of attack actions.
It allows you to trigger those features with those maneuvers instead.Could you give examples? I'm struggling to find any save for the Armiger's Lightning Assault which doesn't come online until level 15.
Virtually every major ability in the book triggers off of using an attack action- the Lancer sphere's Impale, Boxing's Counter Punch, virtually all of the attack modifying Blacksmith options, the Armiger's 5th level Rapid Assault, etc. By keying the Scoundrel ability to the attack action, you can apply benefits that build off of attack actions to the action in a way that you would normally not be able to.
We use the attack action specifically because it's a specific type of standard action, not coincidentally the same action that allows you to use the Vital Strike feat, to help break martial characters away from the full attack action. We want you moving and attacking, not getting locked in one place while you fight.| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
*Rubs chin* I might add something like that to the definition of Attack Actions in the Helpful Terminology section. Something as simple as "Many of the options in this book use this type of action" might help clarify how the system works.
Question on great focus.
The "You can dedicate focus to more than one sphere, but the benefits of
being focused in that sphere to not stack" Does that mean:
1) The second dedication doesn't help get normal dedication affects for the second sphere, other than to be able to expend focus while dedicated to the sphere.
or
2) If you have dedication twice on 1 sphere then you don't get extra bonus.
minor nitpick - the AC for Sage says "+1 for every 4 monk levels" - C/P error I assume.
thanks.
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Question on great focus.
The "You can dedicate focus to more than one sphere, but the benefits of
being focused in that sphere to not stack" Does that mean:1) The second dedication doesn't help get normal dedication affects for the second sphere, other than to be able to expend focus while dedicated to the sphere.
or
2) If you have dedication twice on 1 sphere then you don't get extra bonus.
minor nitpick - the AC for Sage says "+1 for every 4 monk levels" - C/P error I assume.
thanks.
Number 2 I believe; you can't dedicate to the same sphere twice to double up on the benefit, but you can still dedicate twice so that you don't lose your dedication if you expend focus. I'll double-check with Stack and look at cleaning up that verbage so it's a little more precise and clear.
I'll pass the c/p error note along so we can fix Sage, thanks :)
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I'm really impressed with everything I've seen so far. I'm looking forward to seeing more of the Spheres.
Hmm... do we have, like, a 5th-level character sample or two yet we could show off, to explain how the system works as characters grow?